Estela has been living a location independent lifestyle for over fifteen years, and defining what freedom means for herself on the way. She shares how her determination to stay curious like a child, to keep on asking questions, without worrying too much about the answers, keeps her on her tracks of defining the life she wants, and creating it.

As more and more people are joining this way of living, there is still a lot to create, and it is up to each person to invent their own personal version. It can feel lonely sometimes, and events like Freedom X Fest are a great opportunity for inspiration and support. After being part of last summer’s edition, I can definitely say that the intention was met, and this festival with its special twist is a great place to meet and/or stay in touch with this global family.

On Freedom, being curious, creating your life, opening new possibilities for living, working, and traveling…

Estela shares the intention behind the creation of Freedom X fest: talks and workshop, outdoors, in nature. Many of us are really eager to learn, network, be in the business environment, but equally we are as motivated to experience ourselves as human beings, come together, dance together, do mediation, yoga, and have a much more flexible environment. The importance of the environment, and how nature supports community. [1:16]

One of the biggest challenge of the location independent life: isolation. As the community is growing globally, events like Freedom X Fest are steps in creating a global network, family, where people are defining themselves not on location anymore, but on their value system. [4:45]

Being location independent is still a new trend. There is an amazing opportunity that comes with this new style of working, living and traveling around the planet, but it is also a great responsibility about what we do with it and how we use it. That’s why events like Freedom X fest are so important, because that’s how we can define these new terms and possibilities. [7:19]

How Estela came to live this lifestyle: “What else is possible?” How “just” knowing what I want from life and asking how I can get there makes all the difference. In this lifestyle, because it is new, we have to find new ways to do things, which is pretty exiting. One of the most important things is curiosity, and asking questions without the need to actually know the answer… That leads us on new path. Having a childlike curiosity: Children don’t have a way how the world should be, they just explore, ask, try… If we can tap more into the sense of ourselves, we can unlearn some of the stuff that we don’t need and be ourselves. [12:12]

So, what is freedom? Freedom is having the choice to be, to do: Asking “Is this really what I want?”. Defining it, and then being open to ask again, and seeing this definition change, over time. Once we stop to live a life that we are supposed to live, like what society exposes on us, we can start to define ourselves from within and construct this reality outside of us. Freedom is also having the flexibility to chose a direction and go towards it, but being free to take detours, or even to see this direction changing… Knowing where you go, but having the flexibility to adapt yourself to live. [15:05]

Once you have freedom, a lifestyle where you can do whatever you want, what is it that you do? It’s never about achieving anything, but about the journey, and the goal is constantly evolving. There is no framework (yet) to create this lifestyle, so we have to create these new ways of living. And each of us is creating the life s/he wants in his/her very own way. [20:30]

It’s really easy to bring our past conditioning with us without even being aware of it. The trap of busy-ness: “I was caught into this frustration of loving what I was doing, but overworking myself, and not feeling so happy”. “Even if I love what I am doing, if I’m doing it on unhealthy base and hours, it is not serving me.”. Recreating habits and belief, Estela found herself working less hours while having better results. When we want to create something so radically new, we still have to be aware of all the past stuff that we bring into it, and keep questioning, because there is always more to discover and create. Most people have a career, and build their lifestyle around or into what this career allows them to. We chose something else: we chose to have a lifestyle, and then build a career that can support this lifestyle. [24:58]

How do you balance work, play, private life… It is a constant experimentation. We need to be responsible for ourselves and aware of where we put priority and energy, how we manage time, resources. Great freedom comes with great responsibilities: This lifestyle is a great opportunity to master ourselves, and understand ourselves a bit better, and there is not one way of doing it. It is a matter of enjoying the journey itself. [30:40]

The importance sharing fuck-ups as much as success. The road to success goes up… and down! Sharing this supports and teach the community. [34:48]

The different flavors of feeling alive; from the excitement of the new and adrenaline pumping, to the subtle aliveness of being present in “simple moments”. [36:21]

Who is Estela Kun?

Estela is been living abroad and traveling for over 15 years, while founding and managing a marketing agency. She is the founder of Freedom X Fest, the first educational outdoor festival about the location independent movement, where 400 people gathered to learn from each other and collaborate last summer in the Spanish Pyrenees. She also published a co-authored book: “FREEDOM BY DESIGN, Living Life on Your Own Terms”.Estela is making a stand for making the freedom lifestyle accessible to many more people. The philosophy behind FXF is that location independence goes above and beyond simply being free to work and live as you love. It has the potential to completely revolutionize society.